Friday, March 24, 2006

Moderation

This is making me crazy.

I'm sure that I had this conversation by email with someone recently, but I can't remember who it was. An exhaustive search on my archived email has proved fruitless.

Anyway, the topic was: Who said this? The quote: "Moderation in all things. Especially moderation."

I vaguely remembered my mother attributing it to Aristotle. My correspondent begged to differ. A search of bartleby.com resolved nothing. We moved on.

So, I'm randomly surfing, and I come across the following:

Everything in moderation -- including moderation.
-- Harvey Steiman

Harvey Steiman?

Hoodat?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Harvey Steiman apparently wrote a book titled "Italian Wines for Dummies" and writes for the Wine Spectator. I googled him up and there was your post from your blog in techno something under Quotes of Harry Steiman:


By Alder Yarrow in Vinography: a wine blog 15 days ago
Today marked the second day of the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers, ... on writing tasting notes, hosted by Harvey Steiman of The Wine Spectator, Frank Prial of The New York Times, and author and educator Karen MacNeil. Steiman began with a presentation on what he felt

Rubbing Shoulders With The Talented
By Alder Yarrow in Vinography: a wine blog 15 days ago
So kid, you wanna be a wine writer? That could easily be the opening line on the registration form for the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers, ... of the participants is extraordinary. Leaving aside the luminaries like Frank Prial of the New York Times, Harvey Steiman of the Wine Spectator, Rob Kasper of the Baltimore Sun, Jack Hart of the

bjkeefe said...

Thanks, TC.

I'm pretty amazed that this is attributed to someone contemporary. I wonder if it's original with him.

Anonymous said...

Didn?t our grandfather coin this one, as he tossed back his breakfast Scotch?

Actually, I don?t have 100% proof, but my best guess is that it is originally from "The Satyricon," one of the foundational works in the literature canon. It's considered one of the first examples of the novel. "The Satyricon," written around the time of Jesus, pokes fun at Ancient Rome (hence the title, akin to ?satire?). It makes sense to me that a quote about taking moderation in moderation really does take the piss out of those stern-jawed Romans.

I would truly know the answer if I?d read all the books on my Comps list.

Oddly, Bartlett's and the Oxford Dictionary of Quotes don't list this particular quote.

A couple of my favorites found along the way:

There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes . . . and dead armadillos.
--- Jim Hightower

Temperate temperance is best; intemperate temperance injures the cause of temperance.
---Mark Twain

bjkeefe said...

LOL @ Grandpa reference. Actually, beer was his breakfast juice. He didn't hit the Scotch until coffee break.

Thanks for the quotes, especially the Hightower one, and especially as applies to Democrats, these days. I've heard many variations of this one. Nice to know the original source.

And of course, Mark Twain is the canonical example of wit in wisdom.

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite quotes which I read somewhere, but can't remember where now is:

Man, being a reasonable animal, can always find a reason to justify whatever action he is planning to take anyway.

Or words to that effect.

ShareThis